The Integration of Smart Meters into Electrical Grids: Bangladesh Chapter

The Smart Metering Technology paves way for increased utilization of green power through Renewable Energy Sources. With the introduction of Smart Metering Technology at Distribution level, the consumer shall have an incentive to switch on their appliances time specific, to have the benefit of choice of low cost power. This paper identifies specific issues that could be developed for Bangladesh’s deployment of Smart Metering Infrastructure, recommends appropriate goals, key strategies, and critical objectives in solving those shortcomings, and outlines a practical program, identifying key tasks and necessary expert capabilities, to accomplish that solution in a timely and affordable manner. Keywords: AMR, AMI, AMM, Power Line Carrier (PLC

Adaptive Mechanisms of Root System of Rice for Withstanding Osmotic Stress

Being one of the major cereal crops, rice has a great effect on food security of the world population. But worldwide rice production faces severe threat due to a combination of factors like uncontrolled human rise, limited agricultural land and increasing environmental stresses. Coping with this situation is an urgent call for meeting the challenge. For overwhelming rice production by battling with this condition, scientists and researchers try their best to develop such rice varieties which can adapt to adverse climatic conditions. But, the majority of the research efforts are given on above ground parts of rice to make it stress tolerant. Root, one of the major parts of plant, remains unnoticed although it has immense possibility of adaptation under stress conditions. Fruitful and efficient utilization of limited resources are possible through healthier and competent root systems. Selection and breeding of rice genotypes with extensive root systems may contribute to more efficient use of soil nutrient resources and this ultimately influences the yield stability of rice

Drought Affected Wheat Production in Bangladesh and Breeding Strategies for Drought Tolerance

Wheat is one of the major cereal crops in Bangladesh. Over the last two decades, wheat consumption has passionately amplified in Bangladesh but its production has declined due to various stress environments. Recurrent drought event due to climate change that threatens the country’s food safety has become a serious concern. To safeguard the food security, adopting suitable breeding strategies can add momentum. Developing drought tolerant wheat varieties are the definitive means of protecting the crop against hostile effects of drought. Plant breeders are exploring various breeding strategies to breed for the varieties that can cope with water deficient conditions well. Besides, breeders are consistently looking for new prospects and strategies that can boost genetic gain in yield. To endorse drought tolerance in wheat, understanding the physiological and genetic adaptation mechanisms of wheat cultivars during drought stress would provide the estimated benchmarks to adjust for suitable breeding programs. The efforts of developing drought tolerant wheat genotypes could be supported by different breeding strategies including in vitro haploid and double haploid protocols, polyploidization, development of various types of hybrids and induced mutants by utilizing both classical and molecular breeding techniques. The proposed book chapter shall discuss the pattern of drought-stress in the wheat growing regions, effects of drought stress on wheat production and suitable breeding strategies for developing drought tolerant genotypes in Bangladesh

Orthotic Treatment Overview of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome or median compressive neuropathy at the wrist is the condition of median nerve compression. Most of the CTSs are idiopathic and are provoked by repetitive grasping and manipulating activities, and the exposure can be cumulative. Orthotic splinting is prescribed both pre- and postsurgical but essentially in pre-surgical situation. The importance of wrist orthotic splints in non-operative treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome is a known scenario. Also evidentially it has a standard of care despite having varying rates of success. The aim and objective of orthotic splinting is to immobilize the wrist to stop flexion and maintain low range of wrist motion which help to decrease inflammation. CTS splint may be applied to dorsal side or in volar for maintaining wrist in a neutral position. The general recommendation is to wear a wrist immobilization orthotic splint as night splint. Splint kinematics and kinetics for biomechanical analyzing principles are essential to understand the principles involved in the various standard design, construction, and fitting of CTS splint. Application of orthotic biomechanics is for possessing a specific understanding of orthotic splinting function as per clinical orthotic assessment

Comparative resistance and yield performance of summer mungbean mutants and varieties as affected by MYMV

An experiment was conducted in the research field of the Department of Plant Pathology, Patuakhali Science and Technology University during February to April 2013 to select Mungbean Yellow Mosaic Virus (MYMV) resistant mutant/variety under natural epiphytotic condition. The screening was made on the six mungbean genotypes including three advanced mutant lines, MBM-07, MBM-21, MBM-88 and three varieties Bina mung-5, Bina mung-6, Bina mung-8 as check, to evaluate their reaction to MYMV at flowering and pod maturity stages. It was observed that at the flowering stage of MBM-21, MBM-88, and Bina mung-6 were found resistant with percent disease incidence recorded from 0.5, 1.0, and 0.5 percent respectively. At the maturity stage, no genotype were found to be immune and the disease incidence varied from the lowest 0.5 % in MBM-21 to highest 26 % in MBM-7. The mutant MBM-21 and variety Bina mung-6 were found moderately resistant with disease incidence ranging from 1 to 10 %. Among the less MYMV infected mungbean mutants, MBM-21 gave the highest yield (1569 kg ha-1) and the lowest yield was in MBM-07 (1183kg ha-1). The mutants MBM-21 completed by the short duration of 61.67 days as compared to check Bina mung-6 (67.33 days). Out of six summer screened mungbean mutants and varieties, MBM-21 exhibited highest resistance in both flowering and pod maturity stage. Therefore, MBM-21 might be selected as a resistant variety against MYMV after further trail in different Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZ) of Bangladesh

Integrating GIS and expert judgment in a multi-criteria analysis to map and develop a habitat suitability index: a case study of large mammals on the Malayan Peninsula

Many habitat patches in tropical landscapes have become less suitable for wildlife due to an increase in anthropogenic disturbances. An index of habitat suitability based on the ecological factors that collectively determine the suitability of an organism's habitat is important for conservation planning. However, a widely accepted and comprehensive multi-criteria habitat suitability index for umbrella species is still lacking, particularly in areas where information related to the biology and ecology of the species of interest is not available. Therefore we develop preliminary habitat maps and measure the degree of habitat suitability for large mammals, focusing on four umbrella species in the State of Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia: Panthera tigris jacksoni (Malayan tiger), Tapirus indicus (Malayan tapir), Helarctos malayanus malayanus (Malayan sun bear), and Rusa unicolor cambojensis (sambar deer). The former two are endangered and the latter two are vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List. The suitability of habitat patches for each species was measured across the entire study area as well as in nine wildlife protected areas by integrating GIS data and expert opinion. Expert opinions were used as the source of information regarding the stresses faced by the species because there was insufficient information available from ground surveys. We developed an index and maps of habitat suitability for each species, which were then integrated to represent a combined index (ranging from 0 to 27) and spatially explicit maps of the area's habitat suitability for large mammals. The average large mammal habitat suitability index value of the State of Selangor (9) indicates that many habitat patches have become unsuitable for such species. Of the nine wildlife protected areas, Fraser's Hill (22), Sungai Dusun (22), and Bukit Kutu (21) are very suitable; Klang Gate (20) and Templers Park (17) are suitable; and the remaining four are unsuitable for large mammals. We assume that this preliminary habitat suitability index and mapping are useful for conservation planning of wildlife habitats at both landscape and regional scales, as well as providing an initial foundation for revision by future research with significant new information

Morphological Characterization of Deepwater Rice Genotypes

The experiments was conducted to study the early establishment morphological characters of advanced deep water rice.The parameters such as plant height, number of leaves, and number of effective & non-effective tillers were studied with different DAS as treatment in field condition. The genotype BR224-2B-2-5, BR5915-B-7, Bazzail-65 &Gabura showed more plant height at 30 DAS & 60 DAS. But HBJ.A.IV & Bazail-65 showed more plant height at 90 DAS & 120 DAS. BR224-2B-2-5 & BR5915-B-7 showed more leaves and tillers at early stage (60 DAS). But HBJ.A.IV &Birpala showed better performance for same characters at later stage (90 DAS, 120 DAS & 150 DAS). The advanced genotype BR224-2B-2-5 is able to establish significantly at early stage as it showed vigorous growth against stress condition present at early stage. HBJ.A.IV and Birpala have potential of producing more leaves and tillers throughout the growth stages and HBJ.A.IV and Birpala is the tall type DWR cultivar as it produced more seedling height and plant height than others. The yield of the genotype BR224-2B-2-5 and BR5915-B-7 are 3.07 t ha-1 and 2.71 t ha-1 respectively. Finally, the advanced genotype BR224-2B-2-5 may be a good source to meet the future challenge

SEED PRIMING AND EXOGENOUS APPLICATION OF SALICYLIC ACID ENHANCE GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY OF OKRA (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) BY REGULATING PHOTOSYNTHETIC ATTRIBUTES

Low and uneven germination is a serious problem for the successful production of okra seedlings. Priming of seeds as well as supplementation of different plant growth regulators exhibited better response in successful seedling production which eventually results in higher yield. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of seed priming and exogenous application of salicylic acid (SA) on okra seed germination and plant development. The okra seeds were primed by 1 mM and 2 mM of SA for 60 minutes whereas the seeds were washed several times with distilled water for the control treatment. Similar doses of SA have been exogenously sprayed to the 12 days okra seedlings for 4 days. The results of the study revealed that seed priming with SA enhanced germination percentage (GP), increased coleoptile length and weight, shoot and root length, and seed vigor index (SVI). Similarly, exogenous application of 1 mM SA increased relative water content (RWC), contents of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll while a higher dose of SA (2 mM) degraded the leaf pigments. Supplementation of SA altered photosynthetic attributes, net photosynthetic (Pn) and transpiration rate (Tr), stomatal conductance (Gs), and water use efficiency (WUE). Moreover, SA treatment reduced the time duration of flower bud initiation and days to first flowering and enhanced the yield per plant. The results of this study indicated that seed priming and exogenous application of SA enhanced germination and okra productivity by regulating RWC and photosynthetic attributes where 1 mM SA is more effective compared to 2 mM SA

Lightweight encryption technique to enhance medical image security on internet of medical things applications

The importance of image security in the field of medical imaging is challenging. Several research works have been conducted to secure medical healthcare images. Encryption, not risking loss of data, is the right solution for image confidentiality. Due to data size limitations, redundancy, and capacity, traditional encryption techniques cannot be applied directly to e-health data, especially when patient data are transferred over the open channels. Therefore, patients may lose the privacy of data contents since images are different from the text because of their two particular factors of loss of data and confidentiality. Researchers have identified such security threats and have proposed several image encryption techniques to mitigate the security problem. However, the study has found that the existing proposed techniques still face application-specific several security problems. Therefore, this paper presents an efficient, lightweight encryption algorithm to develop a secure image encryption technique for the healthcare industry. The proposed lightweight encryption technique employs two permutation techniques to secure medical images. The proposed technique is analyzed, evaluated, and then compared to conventionally encrypted ones in security and execution time. Numerous test images have been used to determine the performance of the proposed algorithm. Several experiments show that the proposed algorithm for image cryptosystems provides better efficiency than conventional techniques